


Ashke

by skid



Category: Haikyuu!!, Valdemar Series - Mercedes Lackey
Genre: Fluff, I rushed the love but it's still crack, It's all fluff, Kissing, M/M, Mainly Daisuga - Freeform, Mercedes fic cross over, Oisuga is super brief, some nudity but no real description, why? I don't know!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-09
Updated: 2015-12-09
Packaged: 2018-05-05 19:32:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5387666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skid/pseuds/skid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sugawara Koushi is a Tayledras mage who dreams about finding his shay’kreth’ashke; life bonded, soul mate, beloved of the heart.</p><p>Sawamura Daichi is a Shin'a'in out of his depth. The Star Eyed goddess made him a Dark Rider, the first of a new class of Shin'a'in warrior, and now him and his spirit companion Kethry are travelling away from their home on the Plains.</p><p>Neither of them expected anything like this to happen.</p><p>They love each other obviously.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ashke

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so it was sort of leading to be a slow burn and then I got bored and suddenly I had to finish it because I was nearing 12 pages and that is ridiculous shit. Also it was totally youth appropriate until I decided to make it not. Nothing happens but kissing and communal bathing in a hot spring I swear. 
> 
> Honestly I don’t even know what I’m doing. My friend insisted I write something so…here is Daisuga to rot your soul paired with my favourite fantasy universe – Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar. You don’t need to know it to get it. Probably. I regret everything and I only have myself to blame. Brief Suga/Oikawa, past. Eat your heart out.

Make no mistake, happiness is found in abundance outside a life bonded mating. In the days of old people used to classify this bond as “soul mates” and that was not incorrect but it wasn’t the big picture. A soul mate matches you on a level different from others but without them you would only feel you were missing a limb, without your life bond (once you have found one) you would be empty. Completely empty. Life bonds don’t happen often but when they do the pair never separates. It is said that when one bonded dies the other can’t possibly outlive the other or if they do the pain drives them to suicide. Those rare few to find themselves life bonded either feel it is a blessing or a curse but neither can refute its existence and neither would wish they lived without it. Those who haven’t found a life bond live either in fear they will find one or despair they have not. Soul mates are a truth but humans have since learned to distinguish between these different bonds. A soul mate or a soul bond can be between you and another human being or you and an animal (generally one of the thinking beasts) and if one of the pair refutes it then it is broken, and another can take its place.

 

Sugawara Koushi was one of those few who dreamed about finding his life bonded. His dreamy moonlight eyes and silver hair, pale skin, slender frame, he was a textbook romantic figure if there ever was one but he was also so much more. Suga was one of the Tayledras, a people known in many lands to be the subject of myth, due to the fact that people outside the clan rarely see them and it has been that way for hundreds of years. They live in the great forests that are home to many of the magical creatures humans love to pretend don’t exist, and that is their job, making sure the creatures of imbalance and darkness caused by the great schism millennia before are healed or destroyed. The Tayledras are a people of magic, their hair bleached white from living in their power charged vales and channeling the magic energy to heal the land. They are also known as the Hawk Brothers, for they breed large birds to soul bond with their mages, scouts, and brethren so that one might never travel the darkness of the forest alone. These birds are intelligent, sporting human ability to think (although it is more disjointed since the birds are animal and not human), they are companions in truth to their bond mates and warn them of danger or join them in play.

 

Gyrr, Suga’s bond bird, a large white (although that was typical) saker/gyrfalcon cross, swooped from the top of the canopy to land on Suga’s outstretched arm. Like most Tayledras his clothing was intricate and ornate silk, hugging his body as if a second skin but leaving everything underneath to the imagination. They crossed the new barrier together, the energy of the new vale cold and then white hot as it passed through them and imprinted them into its memory. A vale was a living thing, the centre a heart stone a magic infused pillar of living rock that purified all the darkness from the lands within its borders and lent power to the Tayledras to purify those lands around it. Every time a portion of the great forest was declared clean the vale was moved, this happened rarely, this was the first move in Suga’s lifetime, the first in his parents life time, the second in his grandparents. He was nervous, it was strange to move so far from a place he had called home to somewhere foreign. Ah, but vales were all essentially the same and sure enough, the hot springs were in place, the elaborate tree houses (ekele) supported by magically massive redwoods were already built and just now being filled by the large lizard beings (Hertasi) who waited on the Hawk Brothers. The paths were covered in stone and the vale was hot and humid, tropical, even as the forest outside was not. In the past, so Suga had been told, visitors to the vales had criticized the Tayledras for changing nature so much with their magic. They worried needlessly. Whenever the vale moved the land was returned to normal and the forest would take over once again but without that darkness it had possessed before.

 

It had been a long day. Suga was a mage and, though he was an adept, he was still considered too young to help in moving the heart stone from one corner of the forest to another, too young to help build a Gate (the magical doorway) to transfer their people and belongings from one land to the next. He was twenty five. The inner mage circle was an old man’s club. His magic hadn’t been left unused though, he had been required to create the vale shield, to create the magic hot springs and build those tall ekele, all done from outside the boundaries of his new home. He asked one of the Hertasi for directions to his dwelling and was then on his way, Gyrr happily resting on his shoulder. It had been a big day for Gyrr as well. That changed his mind, they both needed a little more heat and what better place to find it but in one of the hotsprings.

 

Gyrr pushed off from his shoulder as he turned towards the springs, probably making his way to the other bond birds for a private party (who really knows what they do in their spare time). Suga was just glad he was able to strip off the clothing he was wearing (slick from the work of the day) and plunge into the near scalding water of the large hot spring.

 

He heard a soft chuckle from the far end of the spring and he realized he hadn’t bothered to check if this spring was occupied, he hadn’t checked to see if the little sign by the entrance path was turned to say do not disturb (a sign of a couple or _couples_ trysting). He looked up and through the hot fog and immediately relaxed. It was only Oikawa Toru. They had exchanged feathers a few months prior and then returned them just before the move. Not for lack of enjoying each other’s company but both had been in the relationship for a little bit of physical release and felt nothing further. The Hawk Brothers were a people open entirely to intimate pairings between all genders, long or short. Like the wind through the leaves things come and go and love and affection are oft like that. That was what exchanging feathers meant. To give part of yourself to someone for a time you would give them one of you bond birds feathers. Only if you were a love match would you exchange ornate wedding feathers to braid in your hair.

 

Toru lazily beckoned him near and Suga slowly made way towards his previous bedmate. He sat, or sunk would be more apt, down across from him and let out a sigh.

 

“Koushi,” Oikawa breathed in an almost sing song tone, “I think we returned each others feathers too early! You’re looking most appealing so tuckered out, and so undressed…”

 

Suga smirked and flicked water in his companions direction eliciting a little yelp, “Toru, with the work you’ve done today I don’t think you could keep up if we did more than this!”

 

Oikawa slouched in mock-offense and put on a pout that rivaled most upset children. They exchanged half-hearted flirtations like this back and forth for a bit but it didn’t amount to much.

 

“Your hair is getting whiter I think, ke’chara” Suga reached out his hand and twirled a strand of Oikawa’s hair around his finger. Oikawa had the decency to blush at such an intimate gesture.

 

“No longer Ashke?” He responded, and he sounded hurt. More so than Sugawara would have expected.

 

“Toru…you are my beloved, but my beloved friend. You know we weren’t meant to be long together. You didn’t want it that way either.” There was a moment of silence but Oikawa bounced back from that intimate minute and filled the gap.

 

“Must be my scout work that kept my hair from getting as silver as yours ke’chara!” He laughed and boasted, “I am not near as adept as you in magic, but I am the best scout there is!”

 

Suga smiled knowing their moment of disagreement was over and ran his hands through his short silver hair. It was nearly white. Unlike most mages he liked to keep it short and he didn’t wear extravagant robes because, like Toru, he enjoyed leaving the vale. It was, in his opinion, a downfall in the Tayledras mages. Once a Hawk Brother came in to their magic (for most had some) they were assigned to a job. If you were of high magic potential you rarely, if ever, left the vale. If you were of lower magic potential you were often a scout (who were the guards to the borders of the vale keeping outsiders away from the power that the Tayledras had and hunting when needed). Scouts usually preferred to keep their homes on the border and just outside the Vale’s shield. This kept their hair relatively un-bleached (although all Tayledras eventually went white) and when their hair started to turn some would dye it to match the different patterns of green foliage to help them blend into their surroundings.

 

They soaked the weariness out of their bones and chat well into the evening, a little Hertasi brought them food when it neared mealtime intuiting that they wouldn’t be making it to the dining clearing to gather their own food.

 

By the time Suga had reached his own home and fallen into bed he had almost forgot the feelings aroused in him from his meeting with Oikawa. The reason he had given back his feathers, more than anything else.

 

______

 

 

The next day was rest day and Suga opted to spend it indoors. Unfortunately that left him open to his thoughts.

 

He and Toru had struck up their relationship out of a mutual desire for companionship and it had worked. If he hadn’t felt he was meant for something more they might have made a true match of it. They were certainly, for a time, the most handsome shay’a’chern pairing in the vale, but Suga couldn’t get this idea about finding his shay’kreth’ashke, his life bonded, out of his head. He knew it was completely unlikely. He realized that it was very rare for anyone to find this in a single lifetime but for some reason it took over his mind and he found with any pairing he made he couldn’t remain in it for long before that desire took hold again and made the current relationship seem meaningless.

 

It was this train of thought that often lead him to wishing he was one of the brave Tayledras to renounce his peoples calling and travel the world. Maybe then he would have a chance at meeting his true match. Even the Shin’a’in, a race of people cousin to the Hawk Brothers who ruled the plains with their herds of valuable well trained horses, had better chance of meeting others as they traveled to fairs outside their lands once a year.

 

Gyrr flew in then, interrupting his slouching, “ _Eat, want food_ ” the birds thoughts flew across his mind. Usually the vale had plenty of food available for the bond birds (most of which were birds of prey and required lots of meat) but it would seem that since this vale was so new the larder wasn’t sufficiently stocked.

 

“ _We will hunt then._ ” He thought back and the bird nodded his ascent. It couldn’t hurt to stock up on their own supply of food for both of them. When winter came around, and that would be soon, it became harder to find animals in the woods that were not tainted with darkness.

 

And it would get him away from his brooding thoughts on the matter of his heart! With that he hurried his getting ready and the two of them trudged out of the vale into the woods.

 

_____

 

 

Sawamura Daichi was quite certain this weather would be the death of him. Which was saying something. He was Shin’a’in, his skin and hair dark and his eyes…something that made him uncomfortable. Where most of his clan sported the Horse Traders blue eyes his were a warm welcoming brown. At least they weren’t cold. Unlike this ice-rain and wind! The plains never had weather like this. They had vicious rain and blistering snow, they had scorching heat when the plains were in summer and almost void of moisture, but they didn’t get ice-rain.

 

Winter was fast approaching and it was not the time to be travelling far from the plains and their home but...but there had been raiders. Daichi remembered it only too clearly.

 

_It was rare for raiders to make it past the forest of the Hawk Brothers and into the plains. It was a point of pride that a Shin’a’in horse had never been stolen. This time it was different. The raiders had made it well into their clan’s camp and slaughtered more than half of them for sport. There were so many of them that it was impossible for Sawamura’s small clan to fight back. He had done all he could to save the children and the shaman. They didn’t have any of the black-clad warriors sworn to the Star Eyed to protect them. When the raiders had taken everything they thought of as valuable he and the children had emerged to find chaos. The raiders hadn’t been bright or they would have taken the horses but what they had done was more of a loss. They had killed the herd._

_It was then that he heard a whicker from behind one of the tents still standing. A horse, all black, emerged from behind and when he looked into it’s eyes – black-brown, warm and welcoming – he fell into them._

_“The Star Eyed regrets she could not help you but you are to be the first of her warriors who will bring truth and justice to the people of the plains. I am Kethry. Soul Bonded vest’acha”_

 

_He wouldn’t have had it any other way. Vest’acha, beloved friend. The wind picked up around him and when he looked down his clothes were the finest black cotton, black as a starless night, as the eyes of their goddess, and he knew he had to leave the plains to learn from a distant people the ways of this new class of warrior the goddess wanted created. The Black Riders to compliment a far away kingdom’s White Riders._

 

He was travelling through the forest now and he hadn’t ever left the plains alone. He was lost, the ice-rain was starting to become sharper, and leave welts where it hit, he was sure. He pushed on. He and Kethry kept moving. He had since learned that she was not a horse, though she looked like one, but a sort of spirit being made of pure magic. Kethry had told him he too had magic abilities but he had a hard time believing that. Shin’a’in were not a magic people. They had renounced that ability long ago when the Kaled’a’in became two people instead of one – the magic Tayledras and the non-magic Shin’a’in. He simply nodded and accepted the Star Eyed would know what she was doing.

 

That was the last thought he had when the ice-rain became a full-blown blizzard.

 

_____

 

 

Suga was certainly glad he was close to the vale because the ice-rain came out of nowhere and then it became a mass of wind and snow. The air was so thick with white cold he could hardly see a foot in front of him. He wrapped his cloak around Gyrr, who was tucked up against his chest, and pushed forward, the game bag they had filled slung across his back.

 

It was tough and grueling work. He hadn’t realized he had moved so far from the vale and he was starting to worry he might not make it back. He was ill equipped and, magic that he had, to use it so unprotected would be ill advised. He would be like a beacon to those dark spirits who would pray on a powerful white mage like the lone Tayledras.

 

Suddenly, he ran into something large and warm and he let out a yelp as he scrambled back. A large black horse and a black clad rider posed in front of him. He tried to regain his composure and pull on the mask of the unruffled Tayledras, who struck fear into the hearts of travelers too close to the vale. A hand raised from the rider stopped him and he raised his head to look into…

 

Brown eyes. Drowning. Losing himself. Warmth.

 

He nearly toppled over entirely and large, kind, hands wrapped themselves around his waist. The rider had stepped from his horse to save Suga’s balance.

 

This was not how life bonding happened was it?

 

____

 

 

The snow had been grueling and cold but Daichi was prepared. His black clothing was fur lined and prepared for winter. That didn’t make it comfortable to be out in this weather but he was sure he would find cover before it got too unbearable.

 

And that was the moment an inappropriately dressed, silver haired, god had run into his horse.

 

No joke, a god.

 

The being who had been struggling to push through the blizzard was dressed in a Tayledras ornate silk hunting outfit. Delicately stitched green that almost blended perfectly with the forest when it was warmer now clashed with the white washed surroundings. It clung to his tall, slight, frame in all the right places and you could see when he moved his muscles were very developed if well hidden.

 

His eyes were like moonlight, and his skin glowed. He had a tiny little freckle on his cheek. They made full eye contact and suddenly he experienced something he had only just felt a few weeks before but this time it was much deeper.

 

He was falling.

 

Falling into those eyes.

 

A life bond.

 

Falling…

 

FALLING!! The god-like man was falling! Daichi hopped from Kethry and reached out to steady him, a falcon burst from the man’s cloak and he nearly jumped back in surprise. Yes, this man was definitely a Tayledras and the vale must be near by. He had never been to a Hawk Brother’s vale.

 

He leaned in close to the man’s ear and said, above the din of the storm, “You’d better point me in the direction of the vale, we’ll only make it on horseback”

 

The man pointed and Daichi helped him up onto Kethry’s back (he was so light!) and they were on their way.

 

___

 

 

Suga never would have thought his day would lead to him bringing a stranger to the vale. Neither would his vale.

 

When they entered the boundaries and were finally surrounded by the tropical warmth inside the shields Gyrr angrily jumped from Suga’s cloak and soared up to a lower limb of a tree fluffing his feathers and looking disgruntled.

 

“ _Your bird didn’t find the journey pleasant I think_ ” a mind voice intruded in his head and he looked in amazement at the black horse.

 

She very slowly and deliberately winked.

 

“You can talk!” He said aloud and then blushed bright red as the black rider who rescued him from the cold turned to look in his direction.

 

“Well, I wouldn’t call it talking but Kethry is not a normal horse.” The other man responded to his outburst reading his intentions clearly, “The Star Eyed sent us…” He trailed off and looked at Suga suddenly shy.

 

Suga decided enough was enough, they both felt that bond happen in the forest. They both knew what it meant. He didn’t even know the man’s name and he was getting his life story in pieces. He had wished for a life bond before but he didn’t think it was going to happen like this.

 

“I’m Sugawara Koushi, a mage adept of Vale Kar’asu.”

 

The man blinked in surprise at the sudden confidence in Suga.

 

“I…I’m Sawamura Daichi, Shin’a’in Black Rider of the Crow Clan” He stammered out.

 

“ _Daichi.... A kind name, to fit those eyes_ ” Suga thought.

 

“We…We bonded back there didn’t we?” Daichi asked, his eyes were wide with amazement but also fear.

 

Suga nodded. Not sure himself what it all meant. He was certainly bonded to this man but he didn’t love him! He couldn’t with so little time between them.

 

“But how is that possible!” Daichi exclaimed in almost an echo of Suga’s thoughts, “We don’t even know each other! Don’t you have to be in love to be life bonded?” He realized what he had said and looked quickly down at his feet almost ashamed.

 

Suga thought it was cute.

 

“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that I couldn’t love you, I think…I think-“ _I think your beautiful_ was what Daichi wanted to say but it didn’t come out, “I think it’s just so sudden, how can we tell if...” He trailed off.

 

Daichi was right. They couldn’t tell if this life bond was also a love bond. Sometimes it happened. A life bond was forged and the two bonded weren’t romantically inclined towards each other. Those were often the hardest, for the partners of the bonded pair would never be the first on their lovers minds. Suga had wanted a life bond but he didn’t want that! He didn’t want a bond that meant they would never touch, never share a house or a bed or – their eyes met and they both knew they were thinking the same things. Daichi blushed a bright red but Suga was sure his face was the same scarlet.

 

That is exactly how the Elders of the Vale found them.

 

“What is the meaning of this Shin’a’in!” Boomed the Vale Leader walking into the entrance clearing, “You belong on the plains.”

 

Daichi opened his mouth to explain. He had nothing to explain. He didn’t even know what was going on save the fact that the Star Eyed made him some sort of magic warrior and then a magic horse spirit turned up and he got lost in a snow storm only to find his life bonded partner who he might not even love.

 

Good thing he didn’t say that run-on sentence out loud.

 

Kethry stepped between him and the Leader and touched her nose to his forehead. His mouth dropped open.

 

“We have much to discuss.” The Leader said, “But not before you have rested from your journey. Koushi! Make sure he is settled.”

 

The elders moved off.

 

____

 

 

Suga lead them further into the vale. Kethry insisted on accompanying the Elders and filling Daichi in later. She felt she would be better able to explain the “strangers in the vale” situation to them and he would be able to figure out his new personal “problem”. Gyrr had flown to Suga’s shoulder as they walked further and further in and Daichi couldn’t help but stare at the amazing bird.

 

“What is your birds name?” He asked Suga, trying to make small conversation.

 

It wasn’t in Suga’s nature to be cold and he smiled with his response, “It’s Gyrr. He named himself really! He was just a hatchling and he started making this gyrrrrrr gyrrrrr noise and when we bonded that was what I called him!” Suga babbled on a bit about life in the vale as a mage and bond birds and how this vale was brand new getting more and more animated. He looked so in his element. The warmth of the tropical Vale seemed to be a mirror to his personality. Daichi thought he would look good with flowers in his hair and his cheeks flushed at the image.

 

“What?” Suga asked suddenly, noticing the blush and stopping his monologue.

 

“What!” Daichi exclaimed and jumped, “Sorry Koushi-“

 

“Call me Suga”

 

“Sorry Suga, no I was just thinking I’m still a little cold” Daichi mentally rolled his eyes, what the hell was he thinking? He was not cold.

 

“Oh! We have something I bet you don’t have down on the plains!” Suga jumped brightly and took his hand to pull him down another path that weaved it’s way deep into the vale.

 

Night was approaching and the Hertasi were lighting little path lamps leaving the air bathed in golden light.

 

They were still holding hands and Daichi realized he liked the way Suga’s hand fit in his, as if it was always supposed to.

 

“We’re here!” Suga exclaimed interrupting his thoughts and releasing his hand, too soon Suga thought but he didn’t want to take it back. They barely knew each other. Bonded or not, that might be a little too forward.

 

Daichi looked around and realized they were standing at one of the giant hot springs the Tayledras were known for. The pool was large and deep. It seemed very secluded and he wondered why it was so big if only one person needed to bathe at a time? Oh. They probably practice communal bathing. A foreign thing on the plains where water was scarce, you would reuse bath water but it was all in a tiny tub, nothing as luxurious as this!

 

He turned to ask where he should change and noticed a pile of clothes where Suga had been. He turned beet red. Was he in the bath!

 

A glance through the fog proved that Suga was indeed in the bath. Daichi hemmed and hawed but he supposed now wasn’t a time to be bashful and honestly if this was a common practice for the Hawk Brothers it wasn’t like Suga was going to be seeing anything he hadn’t seen…except it was something he hadn’t seen. Daichi unclothed was a sight to behold.

 

Suga couldn’t help but watch as his life bonded removed his black robes and stepped into the water. He was just slightly taller than Suga, his frame more evidently muscular, his skin was golden and warm in a way that made Suga want to reach out and run his fingers across it. It was below water all to soon and Daichi seemed convinced that staying on the other side of the pool was for the best.

 

Suga rolled his eyes. He supposed that the Shin’a’in were less forward in their ways, especially bathing. For the Tayledras it wasn’t something done always in private, a hot soak could be a communal affair where communities of the vale gathered to gossip after a hard day. He rose from his seat carved into the rock wall of the spring and swam languidly towards Daichi.

 

“So…” He said dreamily, “You choose to sit all the way over here on your own? When you have me to talk to?”

 

Daichi opened and closed his mouth a few times at a loss for words, so endearing.

 

“I-I-I don’t know!” He managed to get out.

 

“You don’t know?” Suga stood, accidentally positioning himself a little too close to Daichi, it was hard to navigate space when one was floating on their back.

 

“I haven’t ever…I mean we don’t bathe…”

 

“You don’t bathe?” Suga laughed and grinned so Daichi would know he didn’t mean it seriously.

 

“I-No we do bathe” Daichi smiled flustered, “I mean-“

 

“You have never bathed with another person around-“

 

“With another man around” Daichi said seriously.

 

Oh…Oh! It was Suga’s turn to blush. Shit. Shit! Just his luck! He would bond with someone who wasn’t shay’a’chern like him! He looked down at his feet then and then towards the exit. There were towels there waiting it wouldn’t be hard to just leave. He couldn’t refute the bond between them but he could run and never see him again! Toru would probably take him back and they could make a love mateing, it wouldn’t be real or true but it would be better than living bonded to someone who couldn’t even return a possibility of love for him. His thoughts were going a mile a minute and he made to run when a hand caught his arm.

 

“Suga…you are so beautiful”

 

Suga turned to look at Daichi with frightened eyes, unsure what he would see when he faced his bonded.

 

Daichi was looking at him with flushed cheeks and a shy stare. Something else was in those eyes but it was impossible.

 

“I haven’t known you more than a day Suga but I feel like I’m seeing lifetimes when I look into your eyes and you’re so so beautiful I…I just…”

 

Suga suddenly felt lips on his and warm hands on his waist gently asking him to come forward. The kiss wasn’t perfect in technique, no first kiss is, but this one was better than all the first kisses he had ever had because it wasn’t just his body reacting to another body. It was two minds and two souls meeting at the lips, tongues, chest, arms, hands, hips, they were melting into each other and Suga never wanted it to stop. But they had to come up for air sometime.

 

When they parted it was knowing they were never going to worry about being alone again. Their eyes met and the warmth in both pairs promised a life where they could learn about each other as they lived a life together.

 

True love isn’t always a slow burn. Sometimes it is a magic spark, tripping through a forest in a snow storm.

 

The pair sank into each others arms in the hot water and Suga felt at peace. He had found his shay’kreth’ashke, the beloved of his heart.

**Author's Note:**

> Well! Thanks for reading! I wrote this really late at night so I definitely didn't edit it as thoroughly as I should have. Still, hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
